Beijing: China on Thursday said India’s decision to ban 118 Chinese APPs is not beneficial to the Indian users nor to China’s businesses and claimed it violated WTO rules.

India on Wednesday banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security, taking the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by New Delhi to 224. India’s move came amid fresh border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh.

Responding to a question on India’s fresh ban on Chinese apps at a Commerce Ministry briefing here, spokesman Gao Feng said, the Indian side abused the concept of ‘national security’ and adopted discriminatory restrictive measures against Chinese companies, violating relevant World Trade Organisation rules. China urges India to correct its wrong practices.

“China-India economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win. It is hoped that the two countries will jointly maintain the hard-won cooperation and development situation and create an open and fair business environment for international investors and service providers, including Chinese companies,” state-run CGTN quoted Gao as saying.

At a separate Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing, spokesperson Hua Chunying in her reaction to the ban on Chinese apps, said, “By banning these hi-tech, easy-to-use and popular apps, the Indian side is sacrificing first and foremost the rights and interests of the Indian users, and damaging those of Chinese companies. Therefore, no one gains from such an action.”

She also noted that the US State Department on the same day cited New Delhi’s ban and called on other countries to join India to join the Clean Network programme.

“I wonder if there’s connection or coordination between India and the US on this issue,” she claimed.

“But India, as a country proudly possessing an ancient civilisation, is wise enough to have known about Dirtbox, PRISM, Irritant Horn, Muscular and Undersea Cable Tapping. It knows fully well whether the US is clean or dirty when it comes to US policies and practices.

“Independence is so precious. We hope that the Indian side will stick to it. No short-sighted decisions shall be made to impede the long-term interests of the two countries and two peoples,” Hua said, any avoiding any reference to the border tensions.

She noted that both countries are close neighbours and proud of their civilisations. The start of our exchange and mutual learning can date back to 1,000 years ago. The great Indian poet Tagore is very popular in China.

He wrote, “We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us.” Yoga and Indian movies like “Dangal” are also very popular in China, she said.

“However, it never crossed our mind that India is trying to infiltrate or pose any threat to our country,” she said in an updated statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry.

She said the intermingling of different cultures is conducive to promoting people’s mutual understanding and friendship.

“So, we hope that the India will attach importance to the two peoples’ friendship and long-term interests and work to promote bilateral exchange and cooperation in various fields,” the spokesperson said.

Lakhimpur Kheri: The three-year-old girl, who was found dead in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, was raped before murder, a senior police officer said on Friday.

This is the third such incident in the district in as many weeks.

The girl’s body, which bore injury marks on the head, was recovered from the vicinity of her village in Singahi area on Thursday after she went missing on Wednesday, police said. “The postmortem report has confirmed rape. I am with family members right now. Seven of our teams are working on the case. I am myself going for combing in sugarcane fields and strict action will be taken against the accused,” Superintendent of Police, Satyendra Kumar Singh, told PTI over phone.

“If needed, NSA will also be invoked against the accused,” he said.

In his complaint to police, the girl’s father had alleged that Lekhram, a resident of their village, had abducted and killed the child due to an old enmity with his family. A case of murder was lodged against the accused.

Lakhimpur Kheri district was in the news recently when a 17-year-old Dalit girl was found dead outside her village. She was allegedly raped and murdered after she left home to fill a scholarship application.

Her mutilated body was found near a dry pond, around 200 metres ways from her village falling under the Neemgaon police limits. Prior to this incident, a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in the district.

Police said the girl had gone to her fields in the afternoon and when she did not return home, her family started looking for her. She was found dead in a sugarcane field.

Both incidents drew flak from the opposition, with Congress and SP leaders attacking the Yogi Adityanath-led state government over the law and order situation.

New Delhi: As many as 500 academicians, scientists and researchers from various educational institutes across the country have urged the environment ministry to withdraw the controversial draft EIA notification and strengthen the existing EIA 2006 notification with a new proposal.

Ever since the notification was issued in March, the ministry has received suggestions through nearly 17 lakh e-mails, including several objections.

In yet another letter, the signatories from 130 institutions have listed their concerns regarding the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, which has been surrounded by controversy since its release, and asked the ministry to withdraw it as it could adversely affect the environment and dilute the clearance process.

The institutes and universities that have written to the ministry include the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

The controversial notification has drawn severe criticism and protests from students, citizens, activists, environmentalists across the country for “fundamentally dismantling environmental safeguards to promote ease of doing business”.

“This cross-institutional collaboration, initiated by PhD students from different institutes, was supported by 105 faculties, former faculties and senior scientists, along with over 400 PhD scholars, post-doctoral research fellows, independent researchers and other research students, who have all signed the letter in their personal capacities,” a press note released by the signatories said.

The letter says the legitimisation of ex-post-facto environmental clearances is a significant dilution of the EIA process.

It also expresses concern on the reclassification of many highly-polluting industries and projects to exempt those from proper environmental appraisals altogether.

It calls for an improved and more inclusive public consultation processes in environmental decision-making and effective post-clearance monitoring mechanisms.

“While a lot of noise is made about iconic species like tigers, turtles and elephants and there is outrage even about individual animals, the truth is that poorly planned large-scale development projects have the greatest negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and people.

“This notification leaves the door open to projects that may severely impact the environment and yet have little real benefit for the people in need,” Kartik Shanker, associate professor at the IISc, Bengaluru, who is one of the signatories to the letter, said.

Ayaz Ahmed, a PhD scholar from IIT-Bombay, said, “The EIA process is supposed to regulate the polluting industries and other development projects and mitigate their impact on the environment. But instead, the draft proposes to ease the environmental safeguards. We need stronger environmental regulations.”

The draft EIA notification was issued by the ministry on March 23 with public opinions and suggestions invited till August 11.